Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox: City showing it is 'turning a corner' 2 years after tornado (Q&A)

For me personally, my calendar -- almost 50 percent a day -- is still dedicated to recovery issues.

View full sizeTuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox, center, breaks ground at the new Richard A. Curry Environmental Services Building with City Council members and Environmental Services Department members on April 22, 2013, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (Chris Pow / al.com)

Tuesday night, Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox will present his recommendations to the City Council for appropriating more than $48 million in disaster recovery funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced in the past month. The list of projects, which could come before the full City Council for adoption next month after approval by the council's Public Projects Committee, will also have to be approved by HUD. Officials have said the city plans to fund many of the projects outlined in its Tuscaloosa Forward master rebuilding plan that spans all of the tornado's path within the city limits.

In an interview Monday, Maddox took a look back at the city's second year of recovery, shared his goals for the next year and spoke about City Hall's efforts to improve communication with rebuilding businesses.

Chris Pow: The second year since the April 27, 2011, tornado is coming to a close. What, in your eyes, have been the city's most significant accomplishments in the past year when it comes to recovery?

Walt Maddox: I think the most significant has been taking the planning process from year one and transforming that planning process into a robust recovery, which we've seen in year two. And I'm very proud that the work of all of our citizens and all of our staff is now manifesting itself into a remarkable rebuilding of our city.

CP: What are your goals for the next half year, and what are your long-term plans for recovery if re-elected in August?

WM: My goal is obviously, number one, to have the [HUD disaster recovery funding appropriations] recommendations passed by the City Council and then begin the implementation over the next 12 to 24 months. This is going to be a very difficult task because we're adding a lot of responsibilities to our team here in addition to the normal day-to-day activities. It's going to involve a lot of moving parts. So our goal is to make sure that over the next 12 to 24 and even 36 months to get these projects from being appropriated to engineered to construction. To me, though, it's very exciting, because the planning work that our public did in the months following the storm is now coming to fruition and we really have an opportunity to be transformative with the dollars provided by HUD.

CP: What recovery-related city initiative are you most proud of?

WM: There are several. Our involvement with Habitat for Humanity is one that comes to mind, where we've been able to be involved in the rebuilding of so many homes. Our involvement with Rosedale, and getting those units back together again and really transforming that community. And the Tuscaloosa Forward plan as a whole, because we had thousands of people participate and paint a different pathway to recovery. And now to able to take that and have an opportunity to implement the vast majority of that plan to me is very exciting, something I've been very proud of.

CP: Over the last few weeks, it has been announced that Tuscaloosa has been awarded $48 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in disaster relief funding. Any hints on what you're planning to recommend? What were the needs that you wanted to meet while planning these appropriations?

WM: Obviously, that will answer itself tomorrow night. But in particular, we needed to look at three different areas: infrastructure, commercial development and residential development. And in particular infrastructure with these dollars, since they're not intended for direct assistance. For us to really grow and rebuild in a way that honors all those who have lost so much, we have to improve the infrastructure in the 12.5 percent of our city that is inadequate to handle future development. So I think one of the focuses that we have is to get our infrastructure in place to ensure a brighter future. Number two is to invest in housing programs that either create home ownership or provide an upgraded rental market. I think we have some really good opportunities to work with some local providers in making that happen. All of this has to be put into context that we have to expend these dollars within two years, which really makes direct investment into home building programs very difficult. To build out a subdivision, for example, would require longer than two years. So you're very limited. But what we have done, if you go back and look at our [first HUD disaster relief allocation], you see that we have invested in places like Hurricane Trace. So we have used a lot of that money in that housing direction.

CP: Around the first anniversary of the tornado last year, some business owners voiced their concerns over recovery. Have you seen that change at all, and have you seen people become a little more accepting of recovery plans?

WM: There are a few things that I think are important related to that issue. Number one is that the city did communicate very poorly with many business owners after the storm. Nearly one-third of the businesses that were destroyed on April 27 were not compliant with either a federal, state or local regulation. How we communicated with them was not at the level that I expect, and I take full responsibility for that. But since that time, we have hired Brendan Moore, our economic development ombudsman, who has done a beautiful job in communicating directly with businesses and helping them through the process.

The second thing that I think is important is that it wasn't the Tuscaloosa Forward plan that was keeping businesses from being able to redevelop. It was actually the codes in place prior to Tuscaloosa Forward that were more restrictive that were holding up development. Since the passage of the new codes and bringing along of Brendan, we've been able to make that connection and see a lot more business development. There are still challenges: small lots, businesses in floodways, meeting current fire codes, all the myriad of different issues that are involved. But I think we've come headlong in terms of being able to address this problem.

The third thing that I think people now have an understanding of is why the city was strategic, looking in terms of infrastructure. We had in many cases crumbling infrastructure or inadequate infrastructure in many recovering areas that would not have supported redevelopment. It was very important that we get the engineering done in many of these cases so that redevelopment can occur. Krispy Kreme and Full Moon BBQ are two shining examples of that. If they would not have given us time to engineer, it's quite possible they could have been building on an eventual right-of-way that would have been needed for the expansion of McFarland Boulevard. That wouldn't have been good for them, it wouldn't have been good for the city. But their buildback is not only beautiful in terms of aesthetic quality, they're positioned in such a way that when we expand McFarland Boulevard that they will be untouched by it. It's that type of strategic thinking. Hundreds of different lots were in commercial corridors that we had to take into account. But I think because we decided to get it right, that our long term is bright, and year two has demonstrated that.

View full sizeTuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox speaks during the groundbreaking at the new Richard A. Curry Environmental Services Building on April 22, 2013, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (Chris Pow / al.com)

CP: Does it feel like things are getting back to normal? You've often said that this will be a recovery that will take years to accomplish, but do you think this past year put the city on a faster track?

WM: I still think we're a couple of years from ever resuming what is normal, because what happened to us was deep, and it was painful. It was one of the worst natural disasters in the history of this country. The issues that are involved with the areas in the city that were destroyed were complicated, whether it was crumbling infrastructure, whether it was high poverty areas, regardless of the issue -- it seemed to all compound itself in the 12.5 percent of the city being affected. And now we've been blessed with a very good problem, and that is allocating $48 million worth of projects that will be heavy in compliance, heavy in public meetings, heavy in public involvement, heavy in engineering. So I would imagine that we are still going to be very focused and concentrated as an organization on the rebuilding efforts.

For me personally, my calendar -- almost 50 percent a day -- is still dedicated to recovery issues. I know for many of my staff members it's the same situation. I think in the very near future this is going to continue to be a focus. But it should be, because we had so many of our people suffer so greatly. The least we can do here at City Hall is to give our maximum effort so we can build back in a way that honors those who lost so much.

CP: Last year, the city held a memorial service in Coleman Coliseum. This week is more focused on things that are happening now in the City. On Saturday, the big city event will be the Mayor's Cup 5K. It seems to be more of a celebratory thing.

WM: I wouldn't necessarily say celebratory, because what happened to us was deep and painful. But what we've tried to do is take the second anniversary and focus on what is happening, focusing on our future. Taking the resilience of our citizens and that compassion that they showed and the confident hope that they demonstrated every single moment after 5:13 p.m. on April 27, and show that we are turning that corner as a community. I can assure you as an individual that every day I think about all the parents who I've talked to, all the husbands and wives who lost their spouses and the family members who have lost so much, that burns in me every single day -- those conversations, those hugs, those tears. And we use that as a motivating point to move forward, because what I do not want to have happen is that their sacrifices be in vain.

This community is better for what they've been through. Their spirit, their courage are some of the reasons we're going to be a better city. We're already a better city in terms of who we are, but we'll be a better city in terms of quality of life. That is a motivating point for all of us here at City Hall, including myself. We'll never forget what has happened, but we do think it's right that we also focus on how far we've come as a community and celebrate that.